Taxes – do we get what we pay for?

[Anonymous]

The total tax bite under the Trudeau regime is now up to 44.2% of a family's income. Of course provinces and municipalities add to the burden on families too. Are you getting good value for the rapidly increased charges we are forced to pay? Is the ever increasing tax burden really just confiscation?



By Lorrie Goldstein of Sun News Media



The only person who can tell you whether you're getting good value for the money you pay to governments in taxes is you.



In its latest edition of its annual Canadian Consumer Tax Index, the Fraser Institute says the average Canadian family now spends 44.2% of its income on taxes, more than on shelter, food and clothing combined.



That translates into paying $39,299 in taxes on an annual family income of $88,865 last year.



By comparison, an average family paid $32,214 in total for shelter ($19,134), food, ($9,299) and clothing ($3,782), or 36.3% of it income



"Taxes, not life's basic necessities — remain the largest household expense for families across the country," said Finn Poschmann, citing the release of the Fraser Institute report.



It also says combined taxes on Canadians have risen by 2,246% compared to the annual study's base year of 1961, when the average family earned $5,000 and spent most of its money — 56.5% — on necessities, compared to only 33.5% on taxes.



This 2,246% increase in taxes (2,449% if you count government deficits as deferred taxes) far outstrips the increases since 1961 in average incomes (1,677%), inflation (750%) and the higher costs of shelter (1,593%), food (639%) and clothing (769%).



There are some important qualifiers to consider in making your decision about whether you're getting good value for money when it comes to paying taxes.



First, the base year the Fraser Institute uses, 1961, was before the creation of medicare, the Canada Pension Plan and many other entitlement programs.



Second, your taxes pay for necessary public infrastructure such as hospitals, bridges, highways, roads, public transit, storm and sanitary sewers and necessary public services such as police, fire and paramedics, which have all expanded dramatically since 1961.



Third, the Fraser Institute calculates the total tax burden on the average family by combining income taxes, payroll and health taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, profit taxes, liquor, tobacco, excise taxes, fuel taxes, motor vehicle licence fees, carbon taxes, natural resource taxes, import duties and a handful of other minor taxes.



Critics of the Consumer Tax Index says this inflates the total tax burden of the average Canadian family since it assumes that all business taxes are passed along directly to the public and fails to account for the tax breaks that corporations and wealthy Canadians get which distorts what an "average" family pays.



The federal government would argue it is rebating its carbon tax to families in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick.



To me, the value of the Fraser Institute's annual Canadian Consumer Tax Index is that it reminds us, and should remind politicians at all levels of government, that federal, provincial and municipal tax increases are cumulative and there's only one taxpayer.



Even a small increase in one tax doesn't happen in isolation from all other taxes, it adds to the total tax burden that Canadians pay. That's why the net income of Canadians after all taxes are paid, is a much better indicator of a family's financial well being than gross income.



To give the public an idea of the total impact of that tax burden, the Fraser Institute also calculates a "Tax Freedom Day" when Canadians have, in theory, paid all their taxes and start working for themselves. This year it was June 14.



Of course that's an artificial date because that's not how taxes are paid.



But it also reminds us of how much we cumulatively pay in annual taxes.

[Anonymous]

Taxes in Canada are about twice what they are in Taiwan..



Taiwan has better public health care, good infrastructure and good public schools..



And Taiwan is aging faster than Canada which means fewer people paying instead of contributing..



No, we don't get what we pay for in Canada..



We pay too much for the services governments in Canada provide, and what they charge us is rising too quickly.

[Thiel]

The total tax bite under the Trudeau regime is now up to 44.2% of a family's income. Of course provinces and municipalities add to the burden on families too. Are you getting good value for the rapidly increased charges we are forced to pay? Is the ever increasing tax burden really just confiscation?

Are these serious questions? As taxes go up, freedom goes down.

[Anonymous]

The total tax bite under the Trudeau regime is now up to 44.2% of a family's income. Of course provinces and municipalities add to the burden on families too. Are you getting good value for the rapidly increased charges we are forced to pay? Is the ever increasing tax burden really just confiscation?

Are these serious questions? As taxes go up, freedom goes down.

It goes right down the frickin shitter.

[Bricktop]

One of the massive costs to taxpayers not mentioned above is the public service bureaucracy...the organisations meant to manage the collection and distribution of tax funds.



We pay FAR too much for this management. In general, these monolithic organisations are grossly inefficient, vastly overstaffed and overpaid, and in many cases unnecessary. As an example, we must register our cars on an annual basis. But the cost of managing this process exceeds the revenue it makes...and no-one can yet tell me why we must perpetually register a car we intent to retain.



Oh, the insinuation that imposts on businesses are not always passed on to the customer is a nonsense. EVERY tax and levy imposed on business is factored into their selling price.

[@realAzhyaAryola]

Our tax dollars also support the public library. Now why can't I go to the library and have total quiet and peace? Why do I go there and have to listen to a full hour of drum-beating or chanting? Why can't they do that in an enclosed room? People like me go there to study, read, write, or review something. It's very annoying.

[Anonymous]

Our tax dollars also support the public library. Now why can't I go to the library and have total quiet and peace? Why do I go there and have to listen to a full hour of drum-beating or chanting? Why can't they do that in an enclosed room? People like me go there to study, read, write, or review something. It's very annoying.

Were the Indians holding a pow wow.

[Anonymous]

One of the massive costs to taxpayers not mentioned above is the public service bureaucracy...the organisations meant to manage the collection and distribution of tax funds.



We pay FAR too much for this management. In general, these monolithic organisations are grossly inefficient, vastly overstaffed and overpaid, and in many cases unnecessary. As an example, we must register our cars on an annual basis. But the cost of managing this process exceeds the revenue it makes...and no-one can yet tell me why we must perpetually register a car we intent to retain.



Oh, the insinuation that imposts on businesses are not always passed on to the customer is a nonsense. EVERY tax and levy imposed on business is factored into their selling price.

It applies right across the federal and provincial snivil service sectors. We spend far too much paying the expenses and salaries of people to collect and distribute our taxes that are meant to pay for services or as transfers to people. What a bloody waste of our money.

[Anonymous]

One of the massive costs to taxpayers not mentioned above is the public service bureaucracy...the organisations meant to manage the collection and distribution of tax funds.



We pay FAR too much for this management. In general, these monolithic organisations are grossly inefficient, vastly overstaffed and overpaid, and in many cases unnecessary. As an example, we must register our cars on an annual basis. But the cost of managing this process exceeds the revenue it makes...and no-one can yet tell me why we must perpetually register a car we intent to retain.



Oh, the insinuation that imposts on businesses are not always passed on to the customer is a nonsense. EVERY tax and levy imposed on business is factored into their selling price.

It applies right across the federal and provincial snivil service sectors. We spend far too much paying the expenses and salaries of people to collect and distribute our taxes that are meant to pay for services or as transfers to people. What a bloody waste of our money.

I work for the provincial civil service..



I know we would be leaner and more efficient if our department was privatized.

[Odinson]

I always about the old Disney Robin Hood movie.



The sheriff comes to town and takes half of every1s money..



He is portrayed as an oppressor who steals peoples property.





Its reality now.

[Anonymous]

I always about the old Disney Robin Hood movie.



The sheriff comes to town and takes half of every1s money..



He is portrayed as an oppressor who steals peoples property.





Its reality now.

Today, you are an oppressor if you don't want to keep  giving increasing amounts of earned income to governments.

[Anonymous]

Trudeau's reelection strategy is to buy our votes and give the bill for the exorbitant new costs to future generations.



By Jason Clemens and Milagros Palacios, both economists with the Fraser Institute



Canucks must understand cost of fed programs



As the October federal election approaches, we're in great need of a blunt discussion about the demands Canadians place on the federal government and what we're willing to pay for those demands.



A critical part of that discussion must be the trade-offs between universal programs that (at least theoretically) cover all Canadians compared to targeted programs for those deemed to be in need.



One of the signature policies of the federal government has been the creation of the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which absorbed two previous federal programs and was then expanded. The CCB, a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families with children under the age of 18, now reaches an estimated 3.6 million families. As of July 1, 2019, the annual benefit (before potential reductions) is $6,639 per child under six and $5,602 for children aged six to 17.



The CCB is "targeted" in the sense that benefits are reduced (by between 7% and 23%) for families with income between $31,120 and $67,426, depending on the number of children. For families with income above $67,426, the benefit is reduced by an additional 3.2% to 9.5%, again depending on the number of children.



At first glance, the clawback of benefits suggests the program effectively targets families with income below $31,120. However, closer examination shows that middleand upper-income households receive payments.



For instance, depending on the number of children and their ages, families with income well over $200,000 can be eligible for benefits. An online calculator allows Canadians to estimate their potential CCB. A family with $100,000 in household income (with two children between the ages of six and 17) residing in British Columbia, for instance, would receive an estimated benefit of $4,446. Alternatively, a family living in Ontario with $130,000 in income with one child under six and one between six and 17 would receive an estimated benefit of $3,773.



It's pretty clear the CCB is not a program that exclusively — or even largely — targets low-income families. Indeed, the broad benefits paid to many Canadians families explain the current program's price—a planned $24.3 billion this year — more than EI, equalization and the federal transfer to the provinces to support social programs.



The idea of "targeted" benefits is even more important now given that national pharmacare looks certain to be a central issue in the fall. The Trudeau government's commission investigating national pharmacare recently recommended — and federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor seems to have at least informally supported — a national universal government plan.



In other words,[size=150] Ottawa is signalling that it's not interested in targeting assistance to those in need, but rather in creating a new national government pharmacare program to cover all Canadians. Given that the federal government is already in deficit and doesn't expect to return to balance until at least 2040, and the fact that federal spending is already at an historically unprecedented level, it's not clear how the government can afford a universal plan without significantly increasing the deficit and/or taxes. Indeed, several economists have already raised concerns about the cost estimates of a universal plan.[/size]



A frank discussion of the costs and benefits of universal versus targeted programs, what's meant by targeting assistance, and what Canadians are willing to pay in additional taxes — either now or in the future — is needed now.

[Anonymous]

My kids like the enhanced CCB benefit, but is it sustainable? The increased taxes on people making over 200,000 a year were supposed to pay for it. That is not the case though.

[Anonymous]

My kids like the enhanced CCB benefit, but is it sustainable? The increased taxes on people making over 200,000 a year were supposed to pay for it. That is not the case though.

It will cost $22 billion over five years. And cancelling the Harper government's tax breaks for fitness for example, will not pay for it. It will be clawed back after five years.

[@realAzhyaAryola]

Were the Indians holding a pow wow.

Yes. I like pow wows too but at the right time and place. Why should it be at a library where I purposely went for a quiet place to review something?